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Hans't the cost of living in Brazil been exploding in the past few years?

by craigyk 13y ago

rglullis 13y ago
Mostly in the big city centers, and primarily the cost of housing. Inflation has been concerning, but if you are living in a place where US$500/month can be plenty (like northern/northeastern Brazil), 6% annual inflation doesn't mean much.
ChuckMcM 13y ago
Well I don't know if they "planned" it exactly but they bought a couple of apartments in a vacation spot which provide a rental income in Reales before they moved. Between that and my father-in-laws Navy retirement benefit they seem to do ok.
- malandrew 13y ago
  Opening and running a bed and breakfast is also a great option since it provides a steady stream of travelers, which mitigates the isolation you might feel from being in a foreign land.
malandrew 13y ago
Yes. A lot, but it's still extremely cheap and there are literally hundreds of miles of amazing coastline to retire cheaply to, many of which are within 1-4 hours of a major metropolitan city. São Luis (Maranhão), Fortaleza (Ceara), Recife & Olinda (Pernambuco), Salvador (Bahia) and Aracaju (Sergipe) all have amazing and cheap places nearby. The major cities in the northeast leave a lot to be desired because they are often very poorly run because socialist political parties are in power[0] A lot of the growth in the Northeast has been due to the Bolsa Família[1] conditional cash transfer program that redistributed wealth to poor across the country, but especially the northeast because many of Brazil's poor live there. It works in a way that doesn't undermine local economics but instead infuses cash at the lowest levels of society, generating economic activity in local communities and providing opportunities for individuals to scale to small businesses and small businesses to scale into larger ones. One of the biggest takeaways for me was that except for major capital expenditures like power plants, ~12 million people spending ~$13 will better allocate ~$156 million dollars than one fund manager investing $156 million dollars. On top of that, a $10 million investment in Brazil is likely to be half of that after graft and palm greasing. Read up on the Bolsa Familia. IMHO it's really a model of how you institute a social program in a capitalistic way and the northeast is proof. [0] nothing wrong with many ideas of socialism per se, but if you want socialism within your city/state/country, then you need to ruthlessly pursue capitalism with respect to other cities/states/countries that aren't yours so you can fund your social programs. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolsa_Fam%C3%ADlia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolsa_Fam%C3%ADlia

Hans't the cost of living in Brazil been exploding in the past few years?

by craigyk 13y ago

Hans't the cost of living in Brazil been exploding in the past few years?

Mostly in the big city centers, and primarily the cost of housing. Inflation has been concerning, but if you are living in a place where US$500/month can be plenty (like northern/northeastern Brazil), 6% annual inflation doesn't mean much.

ChuckMcM 13y ago

Well I don't know if they "planned" it exactly but they bought a couple of apartments in a vacation spot which provide a rental income in Reales before they moved. Between that and my father-in-laws Navy retirement benefit they seem to do ok.

malandrew 13y ago
Opening and running a bed and breakfast is also a great option since it provides a steady stream of travelers, which mitigates the isolation you might feel from being in a foreign land.

malandrew 13y ago

Yes. A lot, but it's still extremely cheap and there are literally hundreds of miles of amazing coastline to retire cheaply to, many of which are within 1-4 hours of a major metropolitan city. São Luis (Maranhão), Fortaleza (Ceara), Recife & Olinda (Pernambuco), Salvador (Bahia) and Aracaju (Sergipe) all have amazing and cheap places nearby. The major cities in the northeast leave a lot to be desired because they are often very poorly run because socialist political parties are in power[0] A lot of the growth in the Northeast has been due to the Bolsa Família[1] conditional cash transfer program that redistributed wealth to poor across the country, but especially the northeast because many of Brazil's poor live there. It works in a way that doesn't undermine local economics but instead infuses cash at the lowest levels of society, generating economic activity in local communities and providing opportunities for individuals to scale to small businesses and small businesses to scale into larger ones. One of the biggest takeaways for me was that except for major capital expenditures like power plants, ~12 million people spending ~$13 will better allocate ~$156 million dollars than one fund manager investing $156 million dollars. On top of that, a $10 million investment in Brazil is likely to be half of that after graft and palm greasing. Read up on the Bolsa Familia. IMHO it's really a model of how you institute a social program in a capitalistic way and the northeast is proof. [0] nothing wrong with many ideas of socialism per se, but if you want socialism within your city/state/country, then you need to ruthlessly pursue capitalism with respect to other cities/states/countries that aren't yours so you can fund your social programs. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolsa_Fam%C3%ADlia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolsa_Fam%C3%ADlia